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22 May 2007

to Tibet - Day Four: Xining, Like the Shining

We didn't so much land in Xining as we drove through it to some reservoir two and a half hours away. We got out on a boat with a pirate captain dude to take some pretty pictures and drop off two locals who live up in the rusty red mountains. We were essentially at the dawn of the yellow river where it is still a deep blue-green snake of purity before taking on its namesake.

The fashion in these parts is a dark blue three piece suit and white hat like a downplayed fez. And the men wear these outfits under any condition, whether it be welding behind a piece of sandpaper tucked under their sunglasses, mixing concrete, farming or just going for a cruise on the old motorcycle with your immediate family, groceries and goat in tow.

Capital city of the Qinghai province, Xining floats three and a half kilometres above sea level. Our four star hotel had a bit of an inflated reputation. Regardless it was good to get out of the tour bus after so much transit with planes and buses. Three hundred kilometres of driving in a tour bus after a three hour flight and the hour long ride to the airport in Beijing. Tomorrow is supposed to weigh in at five hundred kilometres of close quarters tour bus travel. Sucks.

joel

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